The modern, zero-emissions way to see the capital2 August 2012

Press Releases

Three fuel cell electric hybrid London taxis, currently transporting guests of the Greater London Authority around the capital during the period of the Games, were refuelled with hydrogen gas at the UK’s only public-access hydrogen refuelling station, owned and operated by industrial gases and engineering company BOC, in Swindon on Tuesday.

The taxis are part of a fleet of five zero-emission taxi vehicles running in London as part of the HyTEC (Hydrogen Transport for European Cities) programme. The taxis demonstrate the advantages of fuel-cell electric power-train technology for urban transport. The programme is designed to evaluate their performance in typical traffic conditions while ensuring zero tailpipe emissions - bringing ‘Cleaner Air for London’.

Each taxi has 350bar hydrogen storage with a storage cylinder capacity of 3.7kg to provide a typical operating range of 250 miles against a mixed duty cycle. Subsequent hydrogen re-fuelling is scheduled to take place at a HyTEC re-fuelling facility currently being commissioned at Heathrow.

“We were delighted to have been able to help with the refuelling,” commented Nick Rolf of BOC, a member of The Linde Group. “The Swindon station was established precisely to provide refuelling facilities to anyone operating hydrogen vehicles. With its state-of-the-art technology, able to dispense hydrogen at both 350 and 700 bar – the two international hydrogen storage specifications for vehicles – it is a technology that can be replicated across the UK as part of a country-wide hydrogen network.”